ALS students to graduate, enter leadership after simulating it for weeks

  • Published
  • By Chrissy Cuttita
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  (Editor's note: This is the last in a series following ALS Class 10-Alpha from inprocessing all the way to graduation. It highlighted the month-long class and explained what an Airman experiences during this time. The ALS series will highlight open rank inspections, community service events, classroom experiences and reveille.)

The month-long path of becoming a non-commissioned officer for 48 students at Eglin's Airmen Leadership School finally sees light at the end of the tunnel with graduation Oct. 21.

"I'm definitely looking forward to what graduation means - the different responsibilities and opportunities," said Senior Airman James Elliott, ALS student, who entered the service later than most at 22. "What I gained the most is perspective. Most of the curriculum was about how to talk to people...it doesn't get very technical into what specific form you need to use or what specific thing you would do. The question now is how I will relay the things that helped me to someone who is in what used to be my shoes. It really hit home for us - another person's life will be in our hands (as supervisors) and that perspective is helpful."

Roughly every two to three weeks ALS starts up a new class, averaging seven classes a year. The hardest part of stepping out of Airmen ranks and into leadership is knowing they are now accountable.

"When they come into this environment, we expect them to take on the responsibility immediately,'" said Tech. Sgt. Damian Sotelo, ALS instructor. "They are expected to do something and a majority of them aren't used to being given a task and told 'handle it, it's your job now, take care of it. After we give them the basics, they have to run - that's one of the hardest aspects."

It's a culture change for most Airmen who are shown what do to for approximately five years on the job and then show up to ALS where they were told to do work but had to figure out the "how" to do it on their own.

"The fact is the whole culture of the Air Force is changing," said Sergeant Sotelo. "We are trying to become more expeditionary and have a warrior mind set. That is a part of our culture and heritage so it does add a lot of credence to what we are talking about, particularly the drill."

Initially the instructor said students don't care for drill; they haven't done since basic training up to seven years ago, aren't familiar with it and don't understand why its important.

"But you can tell by the end of the course that is one of their favorite parts...especially when they get out there and lead a flight, that's a real big confidence booster," said Sergeant Sotelo.

For Airman Elliott, ALS provided an opportunity to connect with military roots, commonly called "reblueing," and to perform supervisory duties on "trial and error" during the past five weeks.

"By being pulled out of my career field, I realize the Air Force is bigger than mental health, bigger than myself and all the different career fields, I saw all the things I missed about technical school," he said "It's a unique experience."

"It reminds us we are warriors; we are still Airmen, besides all the technical stuff we do," said Sergeant Sotelo. "Our job is still about war. When it comes to drill and ceremony, it goes back to the heart of what that means. That helps us keep it fresh in our memory; regardless of where you work, you support war."

Throughout the course students were taught to balance what works and what doesn't when it comes to leadership. The stages are called "forming, norming, storming and performing." They said not every student gets way through all the stages but, for the most part, they know what it takes.

Airman Elliot said it was refreshing to see how it is supposed to be done and be put in real-life situations so he could reflect what he would actually say and do.

"That doesn't just come from the curriculum, but also daily interactions," he said about the class room experiences.

During an Enlisted Performance Report course, for example, he said he was given a scenario where his class was able to work as a team to determine who was meeting criteria and who was not. There he said he witnessed how social environment makes it a challenge to stick by your own stand on an individual. All students were given supervision of an Airman in an exercise that lasted the duration of the class.

"They love it when they have a real impact and think 'oh wow I see where you are talking about this now," said Sergeant Sotelo. "It's amazing the creativity people have. Someone always surprises you and makes you look back at something. There is always a new tangent that adds liveliness to it."

Speech giving was not as welcomed as group dynamics where students teamed up and actually talked about the experiences they've been through at work and when deployed. This was where they could see and show how the book information is applied to the supervisory role.

"Although we are structured and organized, we are not stringent," said Sergeant Sotelo. "We want them to understand leadership isn't a cookie-cutter process. Every situation isn't exactly the same and because of that, they have to rely on their experiences."

Students are taught how to adapt their personal leadership style to the textbook way of leading.

"You see students all the time (after graduation) everywhere and you see the progression from where they were and where they are now," said Sergeant Sotelo. "It's extremely rewarding."

Even after 10 years of service in three different careers, the instructor said he has changed too considering the differences he sees in his personality and how his initial standards flex to reach many students on different levels. It altered his perspective in a new way.

"I love it; I think it is one of the best jobs in the Air Force" said Sergeant Sotelo, who always wanted to teach. "The teaching aspect of it is amazing - seeing all the different perspectives, different career fields and all the different leadership styles they know about and talk about and all the experiences they've been in."

He said the best part of instructing is seeing the "light" flick, even if students don't admit it. According to Sergeant Sotelo, the ALS team of instructors just plant seeds for the Air Force's future leaders.